List finders



May 14, 1957 H. L. NElnsl-:N 2,791,848

LIST FINDERS Filed May 25, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 `ABCDE l May 14, 1957H. l.. NEILSEN 2,791,848

LIST FINDERS Fild Hay' 25, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I l l if# Hh IM "nl,l'n

LIST FINDERS Hildaur L. Neilsen, Metuchen, N. J.

Application May 25, 1955, Serial No. 511,929

4 Claims. (Cl. tO-:104)

This invention relates to devices which have become commonly known aslist nders which are in the nature of an assembled stack of usuallyalphabetically arranged cards carrying thereon data such as, forexample, frequently used telephone numbers to which the user may wish torefer, and include manually operable mechanical means enabling the userto open to view any selecte-d one of said cards. The improvement of thisinvention relates, more particularly, to said mechanical means andconstitutes an improvement in certain respects over the list finderdisclosed in copending application of Hildaur L. Neilsen and ArnoldNeustadter, Serial No. 508,066, liled May 13, 1955.

The device disclosed in said copending application is provided with asingle card-lifting lever in the base of the device, which lever isslidable to a position underlying a tab of a selected one of plural,tabbed cards and then is manually operable as a lever to partially liftthe selected, tabbed card to permit -a bail, associated with a cover ofthe device, to move into place underneath the tab of the selected cardso that, when the cover moves upwardly to fully open position, theselected card and any other card or cards between it and the cover willbe carried up with the cover, thereby opening a selected card to theusers view. Sometimes, particularly if a card or cards have been bentwhen data have been typed thereon, or if, for some other reason, thetabs of the cards have become deformed or bent, the bail may move intoplace underneath a card other than the one selected and thus causeimperfect operation of the device.`

The principal object of the present invention, therefore, is to providemeans associated with said card-lifting lever which will positively holddown a card or cards adjacent to the selected card land guide the bailunerringly` to its position underneath the tab of the selected cardwhile said lever partially lifts the latter and also While the selectedcard and any other card or cards between it and the cover move with thelatter to open position.

The foregoing `and other objects and the means by which they areachieved are set forth in the following specification and accompanyingdrawings wherein a single illustrative embodiment of this invention isdisclosed Without, however, limiting the invention to that particularembodiment.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan View of an improved list finder, according to apreferred embodiment of this invention, in its closed condition andpartly broken away to show details.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of said list tindex'.

Fig. 3 is a somewhat enlarged front-to-rear, vertical sectional view,substantially on the irregular line 3 3 of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is :a similarly enlarged front-to-rear, vertical sectional view,substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig. l, the device, however, beingshown in a partially opened conf dition.

Fig. 5 is a greatly enlarged, fragmentary, vertical, crosssectionalview, substantially on the line 5--5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of the back part of thedevice in its opened condition.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary, vertical, cross-sectional view, substantiallyon the line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary, detail sectional View, Substanztially on theline 8 3 of Fig. 6.

which are not to be lifted when the device is opened.

The illustrated list finder comprises a base lt), a cover 12, across-rod 14 by means of which the base and coverare pivotallyinterconnected, plural data cards 15, formed with slots 18 by which saidcards are pivotally and re movably mounted between the base and cover onpe-- ripheral beads 26 on modified disks 22, each disk having anaperture therein through which rod 14 extends to hold said disks inplace.

Torque springs 24, at opposite sides of the device, encircle rod 14 andthe ends of said springs coact with the base and cover, in a wellunderstood manner, to continuously urge the latter toward its openposition shown in Fig. 6; and frictional engagement of a pressed-outbump 26, on the front of the cover, with a slightly yieldablecross-member 28 (Fig. 3) serves to hold the cover releasably closedagainst the force of torque springs 24. It should be understood that,except as otherwise indicated, the parts of this device mayadvantageously be stamped and formed from sheet metal.

Means for opening the device to any selected card comprise a crosswiselyslidable lever or key 30, carried by the base 10 and having an elevatedoperating portion 32 at its front end and a lifting portion 34 at itsrear end normally disposed at a lower level than lifting or selectortabs 36 formed integrally in diierent positions on the front edges ofthe plural cards 16, these tabs being arranged in a series extendingparallel to the line of sliding' movement of the lever 30 and sopositioned on their respective cards that, when such a tab of one cardis raised, only that card and those superimposed upon it will be lifted.

At this point it should be noted that, when operating portion 32 oflever 30 is pressed down to its brokenline position of Fig. 4, anintermediate heel portion 38 of said lever pivots upon an underlyingmetal portion 46 of the base which serves as a fulcrum, thereby causinglifting portion 34 of the lever to partially lift the tab 36 thenoverlying it and raise that tabs related card and all overlying cardsand the cover, but only to the extent of the pivotal rise of saidlifting portion 34.

The means for selectively opening the device also n clude a card-holdingmember in the form of a stiff wire bail 42 which comprises acard-holding cross-portion 44 having similar, integral, side arms 46 atopposite ends extending substantially in right-angular relationshiptothe portion 44, said side arms being pivotally connected near theirfree ends by studs 48 to depending side walls 5l) of cover 12.

The free ends of the side arms 46 are oblique-angularly formed, asindicated at 52 in Fig. 6, and this angular formation coacts with the attop portion of cover 12 to limit clockwise pivoting of the bail to itscard-holding position as shown in said ligure, and a torque spring 54encircling stud 43 is arranged so that its ends coact with side arm 46and with the cover to continuously urge said bail yieldably toward itssaid card-holding position.

The cross-member 28 is lixed upon the base 10 in such manner that it mayyield slightly in a forward direction when bump 26 engages it as thecover 12 is moved tol and from its closed position. To this end, themember Patented May 14, 1957 2i? is formed with'two depending tongues 60at each of it'sfends ('on-lyone being shown in Fig. 5), which tonguesextend through transverse slots 62 formed in the base and are twistedabout 90 more or less so that said tongues cannot be withdrawn from saidslots while the cross-member is resiliently yieldable to said engagementby the lbump 26.

As may be seen in Figs. 3 and 4, the cross-member 28, except at itsends, is spaced from the base l'sufciently to accommodate slidablytherebetween an inter'- mediate portion of the key or lever 3) and, asshown in Fig. 2 and by comparison with Fig. l, this space, marked 64,extends substantially across the device to enable the key 39 to bemanually slid transversely so that its lifting portion 34 may underlieany selected one of the tabs 36 of the several cards. indicia 66, whichare shown as letters of the alphabet, are printed upon the top ofcross-member 28 in such positions thereon and the tabs 36 on the cardsare so located that, when a pointer 68 on the key 30 points to anyparticular letter, the lifting portion 34 of the key will underlie thetab of that card which must bc lifted to open the device to the cardreserved for listings under said particular letter.

It may be observed from Figs. 3 and 4 that the base 10 is formed with abroad, transverse depression 70 to accommodate lifting portion 34 andintermediate portion 3S of the key 30, and the shapes of this depressionand of 'said key and the width of space 64 are such that the key cannotaccidentally become dislodged from said depression. One or more beads 71formed integrally on the top of the intermediate portion of the lever 30also prevent such accidental dislodgment of said lever.

The key or lever 38 may advantageously be formed of relatively hardplastic material, and has means associated therewith assuring that itwill stay in any card-selecting position to which it is slid. For thispurpose, the base 1t), at the depression 70, is formed with atransversely extending series of dimples 72, as best seen in Fig. 5, onedimple for each card-selecting position to which the lever 30 may beslid, and said lever is provided with a followerbutton 74 having a shankportion extending downwardly through an aperture 76 in lever 3i?, thebottom of said shank portion being rounded so that it will tit looselyinto dimples 72 wherein the button is positively but yieldably seated bya bent, two-arm leaf-spring 7S, the upper and lower arms of which,respectively, bear upwardly against the lower edge of a depending,longitudinal flange 80 of the cross-member 2B and downwardly against acap portieri of the button 74.

The curvatures of the dimples 72 and the lower end of-the button 74 aresuch that manual sliding of the lever 3Q may easily be accomplished, thebutton 74, meanwhile, Yrising and falling in its movement betweensuecessive dimples; yet the force of the spring 73 is sufficient toprevent the lever 30 from accidentally moving from one to another of itsselecting positions.

T he parts hereinbefore described may be found in the structuredisclosed in said copending application Serial No. 508,066, and theparts now to be described give rise to novel and advantageouscombinations constituting the invention of the present application.

The present invention includes means for positively holding down, uponthe base 10, all cards not intended to be lifted by the person openingthe device. For this purpose, there is provided a hold-down element S3which, as illustrated, comprises a piece of wire which is stit enough tofunction'in the manner hereinafter described. The Wire is bent to form,at one end, an elevated nger-tip 9G adapted to overlie the tab of thecard which is to beheld down with those beneath it, an inclinedportionr92, a straight mountingV portion 94 adapted` to seat with anaccurate, but free; tit within a transverse r groove 96 formed in theunderside of heel portion-138 ofkleve'r', and abent-up end portion' 98serving primarily to prevent leftward movement of the element 88relatively to lever 30 as viewed in Fig. 2.

It will readily be perceived that, as the groove 96 is substantiallyclosed by the underlying portion 40 of the devices base, the element 83is held in pivotal association with lever 30; also, that the element S8always remains associated with said lever irrespective of sidewisesliding of the latter. it should also be apparent that, although thelever 30 is pivoted by the operator to partially lift a selected card orcards, the finger-tip and inclined portions 9G and 92 of the'holddownelement do not pivot upwardly because of the pivotal interconnectionbetween said lever and hold-down element and foi-'other reasonshereinafter made clear.

The device, preferably, includes an extra, non-tabbed card 160, which isprovided with slots similar to slots 18 or' the tabbed cards, and, bymeans of said slots, card 10@ is attached to disks 22 immediatelyadjacent to the underside of cover 12 and overlying all the tabbedcards.

A distance-piece which, conveniently, may be in the form of an eyelet102, is preferably fixed upon or through card 100 somewhat toward thefront edge thereof and toward said cards right side, as shown in Fig. l.This distance-piece serves, when the device is c-losed as in Fig. 3, tospace the cards 16 from the cover 12 sutiiciently that the tabs of allthe cards are at a lower level than the linger-tip 9u of the hold-downelement. Thus, when the latter element is slid sidewisely (the deviceboing closed), the finger-tip will be certain to pass freely over thetabs 36 along its path of sidewise movement.

The eyelet 102 is illustrated as disposed toward the right side of card10G because, as illustrated, the tabs of the 'uppermost cards 16-thosemost necessary to 'be held downare toward the right side of the device.Obviously, the tabs 36 could be arranged oppositely, in which conditionthe eyelet 102 would preferably be disposed toward the left side of card109.

The device is very easily operated. Let it'be assumed that the device isclosed and that pointer 68 of lever 30 points to letter A because of thedevice having been opened to that letter in its previous usage. The usernow desires to open it to letter N and, therefore, slides lever 30sidewisely until pointer 68 points to N, after which he pressesoperating portion 32 downwardly, causing lifting portion 34 of saidlever to pivot upwardly. During the described sliding movement, thelinger-tip 90 lmoves at a higher level than the tabs 36, this beingassured by the eyelet 102 as already explained.

The upward pivoting of portion v3:4 of the lever coacts with the tab ofthe card which overlies N entries to partially lift that card and alloverlying cards and the cover and to free the latter from its frictionalor latching engagement with cross-member 28. During'this partial liftingof certain cards, the finger-tip 90 overlies card N and holds that cardand underlying cards down upon the base. Said finger-tip thus functionspartly because of its weight but more because of the fact that saidlinger is held down by cross-portion 44 of the bail which then ispressing downwardly upon portion 92 of element 88. Also, during thispartial or initial rising of the cover, the bail 42, in response to itsspring 54, commences to move automatically upwardly and inwardly uponinclined portion 92 of the wire element 88 from its noncard-holdingposition to its card-holding position.

By the time the cross-portion 44 of the bail reaches the forward edgesof the tabs 36, the mentioned partial lifting of certain cards has takenplace, so that, as the bail completes its movement to its card-liftingposition, it moves into place beneath the tabs of the cards to be liftedand above those not to be lifted. As the bail, vduring this movement,rides atop the inclined portion 92 and as finger-tip 90 overlies card N,it should be 'clear that the bail could not possibly move underneathvtheN" card or under any card underlying that card. Also, as the lever 30,during said movement of the bail, positively holds the card above card Nsubstantially spaced from the latter card, the device inevitably opensto expose the selected card. Remembering that spring 24 continuouslyurges the cover toward its fully open position, it will be seen that theunlatching of the cover by the described operation of lever 30 enablesthe cover to rise to fully open position, with the cards to be lifted,to open the device to the letter N. The same mode of operation occurswhen the lever 30 is slid sidewisely to or from any letter of thealphabet and operated as described.

To close the device, the user merely pushes the cover down to itslatched or closed position. As the cover approaches its latchedposition, the cross-portion 44 of the bail rides downwardly uponinclined portion 92 and is forced thereby from its c-ard-holdingposition to its non-card-holding position in readiness for furthersimilar operation as described.

It should be clear from the foregoing, that the hold* down element 88,working with other parts of the device in the manner described, servesas very eiective means assuring that the device will always open inaccord-ance with the selection made by the user in sliding the lever 30to a selected letter of the alphabet; also, that the eyelet 102 orequivalent means, employed as described, aids in achieving satisfactoryoperation of the device. Thus, the inventions objects are achieved bysimple and inex pensive means.

It is reiterated that the disclosed embodiment is illustrative and thatthe inventive concept may be employed in various other structuralarrangements without departing from the invention as set forth in thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. A list finder comprising a base, a cover pivotally movable relativelyto said base, a stack of cards, between said base and cover, havingseparate, serially and marginally arranged tabs, an operating leverslidably associated with said base for sliding movement parallel to theserial disposition of said tabs, said lever having an operating portionand a card-lifting portion adapted to underlie the tab of any selectedone of said cards to which said lever may be slid and to partially pivotsaid selected card with any overlying cards and the cover away from saidbase, card-holding means associated with said cover, movableautomatically into holding engagement with said selected cards tab onlysubsequent to the selected cards said partial pivotal movement andadapted to constrain said card to pivot further with any cards overlyingit and with said cover to a fully open position in which said card issubstantially separated from an adjacent non-lifted card in the stack,and hold-down means, slidable with said operating lever, and adapted tooverlie the tab of the card immediately underlying the selected card tohold down said underlying card and any card or cards beneath it.,

2. A list finder according to claim l, said hold-down means comprising awire finger, pivotally associated with said operating lever adjacent thelatters fulcrum point, and extending rearwardly with its free endoverlying the tab of one of said cards which immediately underlies thecard selected for lifting by said operating lever.

3. A list finder according to claim 1, said hold-down means comprising awire finger, pivotally associated with said operating lever adjacent thelatters fulcrum point, and inclined upwardly and rearwardly with itsfree end overlying the tab of one of said cards which immediatelyunderlies the card selected for lifting by said operating lever, and theinclined portion of said wire finger constituting a guide portioncoacting with said card-holding means during initial opening movement ofthe cover to guide the card-holding means to a position above the tab ofthe card immediately underlying the card selected for lifting by saidoperating lever, said inclined portion also constituting a guide portioncoacting with said card-holding means to guide the latter fromcard-holding to noncard-holding position as the cover approaches itsclosed position.

4. A list finder according to claim 1, further including adistance-piece, between the cover and the uppermost card of the stackand adapted, when the device is closed, to press all the cards of thestack down upon the base of the device so that all tabs of said cardsare at a lower level than said slidable hold-down means.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,494,167 Faas Ian. 10, 1950 2,541,881 Menning et al. Feb. 13, 19512,550,598 Pollock Apr. 24, 1951 2,573,534 Bauer Oct. 30, 1951

